paz

In the first weeks of our time in Colombia, our site coordinator challenged us as Young Adult Volunteers to choose a spiritual learning theme for the year. Coming away from national orientation in New York, I was still buzzing with the budding curiosity to learn more about the intersection of faith and justice, and so I didn't have to think hard about the intersection I wanted to focus on as my spiritual learning theme.

Growing up, I can point to different spaces that fostered my faith formation and my growing awareness for justice on the local, national, and global level. And yet, I can't point to many spaces that combined those conversations into one narrative; rather, they remained compartmentalized (whether or not that was the intention of these spaces, that was how I personally processed and received these different strands of learning). That being said, it is only now in my emerging adulthood that I'm beginning to claim a faith that stretches beyond the limits of myself and my immediate surroundings. With this growing awareness, I find myself being pulled toward stories and people and spaces that combine radical justice and radical grace into one unified conversation. Where at one time I may have shied away from conversations that ask hard questions about our world situation and the response we are called to live into as Christians, I am growing to see this intersection as an integral part of what it means to be a person of faith.

The idea that has begun to truly connect justice and faith for me is the idea of peace. Whereas at one time I held a Sunday School idea of peace as a dove -- passive, unattainable, even mythic -- I now wonder if peace isn't something more tangible, more quantifiable...I now wonder if peace isn't the same as justice. What's more, I now wonder if peace isn't something for me to find but for us to find.

Allow me to explain: my time in Colombia has really highlighted the cultural differences of individualism and collectivism. Whereas the culture in the US teaches us to seek to distinguish ourselves with individualism, my perception of the culture in Colombia is that it encourages people to be more mindful of the larger whole. In my experience, this manifests in a number of interesting ways in both countries, but in faith spaces this has led to a pretty starkly different focus. While I can't claim to have completely shifted my personal outlook to that of my Colombian brothers and sisters, I can consciously choose to lean into this perspective of faith and justice that calls me into a similar awareness for the whole. Now, rather than simply remain an individual in the crowd, I'm invited to expand my focus and see myself as a member of a larger body.

In hopes of complementing my spiritual learning theme this year, I've worked hard to grow a habit of reading the news more often. The older I get the more I see it as my responsibility as a world citizen to stay informed about ongoing current events --- at times it's easier said than done, but already I've noticed how this awareness for current events has shaped my daily perspective. More than being simply occupied with my own worries and concerns, it draws me into a larger space -- there are more uncertainties in that space, but it's a shared space that connects me to something larger than myself. Whereas the news used to create distance between myself and the world, this new interwoven perspective calls me deeper into the world and its people. And, whereas at one time I may have compartmentalized current events into a secular space, I now let the lines blur a little more, trusting that drawing nearer to the daily movements of the world and its people will draw me nearer to the Holy One. Instead of holding up blinders to the movements of the world and its people as I grow in my personal relationship with the Lord, this perspective takes the blinders away and allows the larger condition of the collective to influence my personal relationship with the Lord. Rather than a faith that pulls me out of my surroundings, it's a faith that roots me deeper in the ground I'm standing on.

I love what Henry Nouwen writes on this idea. We recently read his book ¡Gracias!, a collection of journal entries Nouwen kept during the 6 months he spent in Bolivia and Peru discerning if he felt a call to continue with long-term ministry in South America. His writing overflows with kindness and wisdom, and as much as I enjoyed reading it for my personal development, it also helped me draw clearer connections between these 2 ideas. In one section he writes,

"The converted person does not say that nothing matters anymore, but that everything that is happens in God and that he is the dwelling place where we come to know the true order of things. Instead of saying: "Nothing matters any more, since I know that God exists," the converted person says: "All is now clothed in divine light and therefore nothing can be unimportant." ... The converted person is where God is, and from that place everything matters: giving water, clothing the naked, working for a new world order, saying a prayer, smiling at a child, reading a book, sleeping in peace. All has become different while all remains the same." (50)

In an imperfect, hurting world, it's a beautiful invitation to think that "all is now clothed in divine light." War and hunger and political polarization and the situation of refugees...it all demands our attention because "nothing can be unimportant." Peace as I once understood it required passive acceptance in which we sought something like spiritual stillness amidst the ongoing suffering of the world. But, in this new thread of learning, I'm coming to understand peace as a marker in the distance that, together, we're working toward, taking actionable steps toward justice, sharing God's grace and healing message with our hurting neighbors along the way.

In Colombia, I've witnessed this coming-together of faith and justice in new and surprising ways. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, the Presbyterian youth camps I've attended have given special attention to the topic of social/environmental justice and implored us to live in such a way that cares for creation and the created. The Presbyterian Church also supports and participates in an ecumenical organization called DiPaz that seeks to dialogue with, educate, and engage faith leaders across the country in the hopes of bringing true reconciliation to Colombia. Still more, the Fundación PAZOS (which essentially translates to "Foundation: Taking Steps Toward Peace") of the Coastal Presbytery develops and implements human rights projects for the surrounding area and sustains vital partnerships with vulnerable communities. I could go on, but I share this short list in the hopes of lifting up the many powerful projects I have witnessed unfolding in Colombia and that inspire me to stretch my understanding of how the church can engage meaningfully with restorative justice work.

And still, none of this is easy, but it is good. To share an oft-used quote from Martin Luther King Jr. (paraphrased from Theodore Parker) " the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." The New Way of Jesus takes time and it requires hopeful persistence in the pursuit of justice (i.e. peace). For me, today, it looks like being here in the process, in the unfolding, showing up in the slow. It means going to my placements each week and doing my best to do my work well. It means listening closely to my many teachers and mentors in Colombia that are further along in this learning than I am. It means singing and praying on Sundays even when the headlines are a mess and I'm homesick. It means holding on to patience in the process as learning unfolds all along this journey, trusting in the One Who Holds Tomorrow.

---

This display of crosses at the Coastal Presbytery office always draws my attention -- I love that each one captures a unique depiction of restoration and resurrection. They challenge me to look at the cross with fresh eyes and remember the call to peace (i.e. justice) that our faith offers us. They recount hard realities of a broken world and yet they still remind me that "all is now clothed in divine light." Today I choose to rest in that hope.